9/19/9   Is there any hope for honest government in this town?

This is not going to be about City Hall.  The Feds are doing what they can to put the fear of God in current city elected, appointed or employed officials.  No, this is about the mayhem and chaos in the DISD and in Dallas County Government.  We have a Dallas County Constable who's got some questionable procedures going on under his watch, and has hired Domingo Garcia to represent him.  We have the wife of a high dollar DISD administrator (and Hinojosa ally) running for the school board to replace Leigh Ann Ellis.

Before I go into more on the bad guys, let's give some credit to the good guys: 

County Judge Foster, City Councilman Steve Salazar and even Justice of the Peace Luis Sepulveda.

Councilman Salazar did not support Jaime Cortes for Constable from the get go.  Despite all the screw-ups in his personal life, former Constable Mike Dupree was a very good constable for his district, where I live.  Dupree's deputies were everywhere and very active in pulling over bad drivers.  Councilman Salazar supported Dupree (a gay man) when it would have been more politically expedient for him to go with fellow Hispanic Jaime Cortes.  Councilman Salazar did what he thought was best for his constituents.

I haven't been a particular fan of Judge Luis Sepulveda, but I don't know of anything he's done other than run a good court without any scandal or hint of problems.  That's all you can ask of an elected official, do your job honestly and efficiently.  Judge Sepulveda has not been high profile since he was first elected, and that surprised me.  I had expected him to be a show boat.  I was wrong about him, and that's not a bad thing.  I would rather expect the worst in a politician and be pleasantly surprised with how they perform their job than believe in someone only to have them turn out to be dishonorable. 

Judge Foster is another surprise.  Maybe having bullies like State Senator Royce West and Commissioner John Wiley Price turn on him has given Judge Foster the courage to do the right thing regardless of the political consequences to him.  Foster stepped out and exposed their shakedown efforts relating to the Inland Port project.  When it was clear that our bail bondsman DA Watkins was not going to investigate how two Dallas County Constables' handle car towing and record keeping for same, Judge Foster took him on, too.

I don't understand why Dallas/Dallas County/Dallas ISD have such a monopoly on crooks and exploiters.  It starts at the top, but corruption is prevalent all over this town in every level of authority.

Because former Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia was so hell bent on punishing former councilman and former DFW Board member John Loza for opposing the Trinity Tollroad in the referendum, she pushed to have him replaced with Brenda Reyes.  Everything's a scam for Brenda.  She's likeable, but she is ethics-impaired.  Luckily for Brenda, she can never get in trouble as deep as Don Hill because no one trusts her enough to team up with her.  That doesn't mean she's harmless.

As small fry as is Reyes, State Senator Royce West seems to be pulling strings all over the 3 troubled D's.  He seems to be some kind of Godfather heading up an incredible network, providing protection to the likes of Craig Watkins, et al.  How he wasn't included in the Don Hill conspirators is a mystery to me.

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